$8m · Seed · Edtech · London, UK
Medly AI, a London-based platform that uses AI to mark exam practice and give students personalised feedback, has raised $8m in Seed funding led by Felix Capital. Existing backers Eka Ventures and Ada Ventures returned, alongside angel investors Andrey Dobrynin, Al Giles, Jean Hammond and Hector Mason. The company plans to grow in the UK, expand internationally and extend its support for US exams.
Exam workflows create a narrower AI product
Medly is built around the work students already do for GCSEs, A-levels, the International Baccalaureate and, increasingly, US tests. Rather than acting as a general chatbot, the platform marks practice answers, explains where marks were lost and adapts revision to a student's gaps. The company says its system combines seven large language models, while handwriting recognition lets students submit the working behind maths and science answers. Medly's product pages also describe curriculum-linked question selection, study plans and rubric-based essay feedback.
That focus makes assessment alignment part of the product. A useful answer is not enough: feedback has to reflect the relevant syllabus, exam board and marking method. Medly says it will use the round to build education-specific models for UK and European marking and pedagogy, while adding SAT, AP and ACT coverage in the US. The commercial test is whether that specialist layer can remain accurate as the company adds curricula, rather than becoming a thin interface over general-purpose models.
The funding tests whether evidence travels
Medly says more than 400,000 UK students have used the platform. The company reported that 74% of students who used it for the previous summer's GCSEs improved by at least one grade, though The Next Web notes those figures came from a user survey. A later UCL report cited a separate randomised controlled trial in which GCSE science students using Medly scored about 22% higher than a comparison group. Both are company-linked evidence, but the distinction matters: usage, self-reported outcomes and controlled trials answer different questions.
The business also has a £300,000 government research contract under the UK's AI Tutoring Tools Pioneers Programme, which is intended to test tools for disadvantaged pupils through March 2027. That programme gives Medly a route to build evidence with schools while its direct-to-student product supplies usage data and consumer distribution. International expansion raises a harder execution problem: each new exam system adds local curriculum, assessment and trust requirements. The Seed round therefore funds more than translation; it funds the proof that Medly's exam-specific approach can travel.
Explore this theme
Raising unfuckwithable kids in the age of AI — Judith Dada & Dadalogue, hosted on EUVC · 23 January 2026. The essay examines the promise of personalised AI tutoring alongside the risk that easy answers can replace the thinking education is meant to develop.
Sources checked:
The Next Web · Medly AI product site · UCL News · Tech.eu company profile · Tech.eu deal record
